The IRIS NFP World conference this month was the Launchpad for software vendor Iris NFP to finally unveil its new-look range of CRM systems for non-profit organisations. And they look good, with potential to challenge strongly in the middle and upper end of the market. On the other hand, the cost to upgrade could prove to be too high for many existing users.
Having spent several years buying up various smaller developers, Iris has finally settled on a three pronged strategy. For the medium to large charity there will be IntegraNG and CareNG. Integra will deliver membership functionality with Care having a stronger focus on fundraising. Meanwhile, for smaller organisations who don’t have such complex requirements (or big budgets), there is Donor Strategy, which comes in various versions for charities, membership organisations and schools.
There has been much speculation about if and when Iris would choose to bring together its two main products in a single technology platform, and now we have the answer: the new NG product range is an updated version of the Iris Care. This decision is not a surprise since Care is already a more modern and flexible solution than the ageing Integra. So now, although they are the same behind the scenes, the two NG systems sport different features, depending on whether you are looking for charity functionality (donations, sponsor me, legacies, financial processing) or membership tools (CPD, subscriptions, examinations).
As many Iris customers know, support has been a problem in the past 12 months or so. The scale and simplicity of a single technology base and a vendor committed to development and support is an encouraging step forward. Martin Carter, the new Head of Support for IRIS, said he has been hiring staff and building capacity so that there is now a single integrated team handling queries for all of their products. Let’s hope things continue to improve. If you are an Iris user please let us know if you’re feeling the benefit of these changes yet?
For anyone interested in the technology, Iris has selected the latest implementation of Microsoft’s .NET framework – version 4. The NG software should be easily accessible via web services, which means that other developers, in particular web developers, should be able to access the data in the NG system and integrate it with a wide range of third party applications. Interestingly, by shifting further towards .NET Iris has followed their rival Blackbaud who announced their commitment to the same technology (their so-called Infinity Platform) back in 2009. However, don’t assume that the gap is as great as it may sound, because Iris has the advantage of many years of Care development in earlier versions of .NET, and Blackbaud has been slow to bring to market the new version of its market-leading product, The Raiser’s Edge.
So, this all sounds like good news. Iris has got its act together and the playing field has been levelled for anyone considering a new CRM system. But what about the options if you already have the current versions of Care and Integra? Happily, there is no charge to adopt the new versions of the software – they come for free, as long as you are up to date with Iris’s annual licensing and support scheme. However, the process of upgrading will not be free, with various costs (and risks) associated with planning and managing the migration to a new system. The migration path will be much easier for existing Care clients as they are already familiar with the .NET framework. For Integra users, it will be a much steeper learning curve, with a lot of work to translate, import and restructure. Estimates for the amount of consultancy time needed to upgrade start at around 30 days for smaller implementations, which is not a low cost upgrade!
With all the operational changes and retraining, for many users this will feel like an entirely new system, with all the associated headaches (and the benefits of course)! This may not be an entirely attractive prospect, but ultimately you have no choice! Iris has announced that their current products will be supported until 2015, but after that they plan to progressively withdraw support from the old Care and Integra, with clients expected to move across the new platform.
Overall, we think this is a welcome development. Iris NFP has staked its future on NG, which appears to be a much better product with vital improvements to integration and flexibility. New customers have an good option and existing customers can lok forward to the prospect of significant enhancements. We look forward to seeing the products in more detail and we will keep you posted here.
ExCare User - spot on.
Posted by: Gareth Squire | Managing Director, Fundraising Consultants Ltd. | July 19, 2011 at 06:03 PM
So, the NG platform is .net based? Good and well, but that is a far cry from being web browser based. I cannot for the life of me understand why IRIS is adopting to use microsoft smart client at a time when everyone is demanding browser based clients.
I can fully accept Care's decision to adopt smart client as a platform some 5 years ago, when the functionality available within browsers was just not ready to give a desktop client-like experience. But, please IRIS, wake up and smell the coffee, the web has changed, Ajax and HTML5 have made great user experience (UX) on the web possible for complex applications, like CRM. Why are you making your existing users pay so much money to migrate, only to trap them into the same old client-server architecture, that means that they will still have to deploy and support software on desktops. They will never be easily able to expand their CRM throughout the geographically-separated, technologically diverse (apple/linux/chrome/windows) enterprises of modern organisations just using web-browsers. And, what's more, there will forever remain an integration layer between Care/Integra and the web - which means higher total cost of ownership for customers who need to use the web (and which ones do not these days?)
This old way of thinking entrenches the separation between staff and supporters - they must use separate interfaces to support the organisation. And staff, are obviously still so much more important than supporters/members - because they get the whizz-bang interface and the supporters get the integrated web site that the organisation can afford with what is left over after paying through the nose for the migration to NG.
Sorry to sound bitter, but this does not advance the cause of charities in this country in line with what is happening/expected on the web.
Posted by: ExCare User | June 23, 2011 at 10:42 AM